New life for a historic train station
On October 1, 1890, the municipality of Morsbach in today's Oberbergischer Kreis in North Rhine-Westphalia was connected to the world, as the Wissen — Morsbach railway of the Prussian State Railway was opened. There were connections from Wissen to Cologne, Gießen and Siegen. This line, called the Wissertalbahn, was extended in 1908 to include the Hermesdorf — Morsbach line with Morsbach as the terminal station.
The architecture office Bonfanti architects took over the renovation in consultation with the monument protection office. The building was gutted, walls were removed and ceilings were lowered to create space and a continuous level. In the reception area, Mosáico cement tiles in yellow (M05) and anthracite (M31) were replaced by the Oberberg tile house laid diagonally. This corresponds to the original tiles, which are even underneath, as Mr. Bonfanti told me. The original entrance door was restored and is now used as a vestibule door.
The adjacent former waiting room is now an event room where lectures or readings are held and where you can also get married. Here, the floor is made of diagonally laid cement tiles from Mosáico in anthracite. The bridal couple and their guests can then hold their champagne reception in the café area.
To highlight railway history, a wall of the café was printed with a picture of the Kömpel Tunnel. At 786 meters, this tunnel on the line from Morsbach to Hermesdorf was unusually long for a branch line. This entire existing route was also listed as a historical monument in 2003 and is to be used for tourism in the future for trips with bicycle trolleys.
